Garment placket-closure.



Patented .lah. 29, I90l.

y 9%. a. MQ hzls-o ttorne y.

K. W. LEAF. GARMENT PLAEKET CLOSURE.

(Application fllerLDee 28, 1899.) (No Model.)

Witnesses.

THE Noam: Pnzns cm mmoLmaa, WASHINGTON, a. c.

PATENT KARL W. LEAF, OF QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS.

GARMENT PLAGKE-T-CLOSURE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 667,024, dated January 29, 1901. Application filed December 26, 1899- Serial No. 741,570. (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, KARL W. LEAF, of Quincy, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Placket-Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in placket-fasteners for garments.

The object of my invention is to provide a fastener which can be fitted to the garment so as not to interfere with the graceful folds of the dress and shall be entirely concealed from exposure to view and is easily operated by the wearer.

The invention will now be fully described, having reference to the accompanying drawings, and the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointed out in the claim at the end of this specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a rear view of a dress-skirt having my improved placketfastener and showing the appearance of the skirt when the placket fastener is closed. Fig. 2 is a rear view showing the placket open and the fold of the dress, which naturally covers the right-hand arm of the fastener, turned up to show the fastener. Fig. 3 is an inside view of the skirt, broken away, showing the placket-fastener closed. Fig. 4 is an inside view showing the placket open. Fig. 5 is a section on line 5 5 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a detail plan of the metal parts of the fastener opened. Fig. 7 is a similar View to Fig. 6, with the metal strips covered, the covering being partly turned back. Fig. 8 is a detail View of the spring.

Referring now to the drawings, A and B are the two principal members of the fastener, pivoted together at their lower ends and having a spring which tends to spread them and means for locking them together at their upper ends and having a cloth portion which is sewed to the inner face of the skirt-lining, all of which will now be described in detail.

1 and 2 are strips of thin flexible material, preferably of metal, pivoted together at their lower ends by the pivot 3. A spring 4, coiled to form an eye, has one end extended to form an arm 5, which is secured to the strip 1, and the other end of the spring is extended to form an arm 6, which is secured to the arm 2. The pivot 3 passes through the eye of the spring 4. The tendency of the spring is to keep the members A B with their upper ends spread apart.

At or near the upper end of the arm 2 is a stud 7, and at or near the upper end of arm 1 is an eye 8, with which the stud 7 may be engaged to lock the two members A B together when the placket is closed.

The strip 1 is inclosed in a folded piece of cloth 9 to enable it to be sewed to the inside of the skirt. This covering-strip is somewhat wider than the metal strip 1, so as to provide a marginal portion to be seen red to the skirt. A line of stitches 10 in the cloth, near the edge of the strip 1, makes the covering fit snugly and smoothly, leaving the surplus breadth of cloth for the purpose of sewing it to the skirt. The strip 2 is inclosed in a similar manner as strip 1 by a covering 11, having a stitch-line 12.

The pivot-pin 3 preferably extends through the covering-strip on each side, being headed down and having washers 13, so as to prevent the covering-strip from being pulled off end: wise. The arms 5 and 6 of the spring at also preferably lie on the outside of the coveringstrips, the-ends being formed with hooks 5 6, extending through the covering-strips and openings in the metal strips.

When the placket fastener is to be attached to a skirt 14, the memberA is secured to the face of the skirt-lining by stitches along the edges of the covering 9. At the lower end 'of the placket-opening the member A comes nearly or quite to the edge of the opening, but flares away from the edge as it extends upward, as shown, in order that the locking eye 8, which projects beyond the edge of the strip 1, may also be set back, so that when the two members are locked together by inserting the stud 7 in the eye 8 the eye and stud will be inclosed between the covering 11 of strip 2 and the overlap ping portion 16 of the dress. In order to make a smooth fit, it is necessary to have the lower end of the member come about to the edge of the opening, as above described. This makes a V-shaped margin on the side of the placket. The member B is secured to the face of the skirt-lining on the opposite side of the placket opening from that'to which the member A is secured and is set back far enough for the skirt to conceal it on the outer side. This member is secured by stitches 20 at or near the inner edge, the outer edge being free, so that when the two members are looked together the member A and the V-shaped portion 17 of the dress on that side of the placket-opening will be inserted between the member B and the overlapping fold 16 of the dress. At the upper end of the skirt, at the sides of the placket, it is preferable to have a hook and eye 18 19. Thus there is a multiple protection against exposure of garments through the placket. Even without the overlapping fold 16 the opening is entirely closed by the portion 17, as well as by the fact that the two covered members 1 2 overlap each other, so that if by chance the hook and eye 18 19 become disengaged and the fold 16 gets turned back the placket opening will still be completely closed.

What I claim is A skirt having a placket-opening, a folded strip of cloth secured to the inner face of the skirt on one side of the placket-opening near the edge at the bottom and flaring away from the edge upwardly, a strip of resilient material inclosed in said folded cloth strip, afolded strip of cloth secured to the inner face of the skirt on the other side of the placket-opening at a distance back from the edge of the opening and leaving its outer edge free with an overlapping fold of the skirt, a strip of resilient material inclosed in said cloth strips, the two resilient strips being pivoted together at their lower ends and the marginal cloth projections extending in opposite directions and not overlapping, a spring for normally holding the upper ends of the resilient strips spread apart, and means for locking the upperends of the resilientst rips together against the tension of said spring when one of the covered strips is inserted between the other covered strip and the overlapping fold of the skirt, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have alfixed my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

KARL \V. LEAF.

\Vitnesses:

WILLIAM A. COPELAND, CHAS. F. RANDALL. 

